"People say that fashion moves faster and faster. More colours, more collections, more brands, more styles. But in reality the clothing industry has been crawling, in terms of innovation, for the last hundred years. Up until now. For the first time in history, the concept of clothing is about to change. And it’s our mission to explore it.

This film is not about the new, it’s about the next. Will mass consumption of clothing continue to escalate? Or will we return to creating quality and caring about what we wear?

Will the future be centred around smart clothing and new technologies? Or will we find innovation within organic and traditional methods? We meet with some of the world’s most progressive people in search of the answers.

The Next Black is produced by home appliance manufacturer AEG, with the goal to anticipate future washing needs and contribute in making the clothing industry more sustainable."

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"4,5 Katharine Hamnett in a video interview explained how in the late 1980s she had been prompted to check, to make sure the company were not doing any harm. That meant looking at the entire supply chain to make sure that every phase was as good as possible. They had to apply very stringent standards from the very beginning. It started with the farmers given the millions involved in cotton agriculture who are exposed to pesticides, on a daily basis. It lead to focus on organic cotton but regrettably not using silk and considering all the packaging, dyes and printing inks. She has used certification, traceability and accountability, right the way through the supply chain but found taking complete control of this complex supply chain was the only way to enable this. She believed that the most effective to target were the CEO's, of clothing companies and fashion retailers. Mainstreaming sustainable fashion was happening because large retailers were realising that it was increasingly what consumers wanted: products that don't do damage to the environment, or that use child or sweated labour. Retailers ignored this at their peril. Sustainable clothing had to be sophisticated, glamorous and the bottom line was always economic. Sustainable clothing did not have to be more expensive. It could and should be affordable. She though that the ETI labour code should be compulsory and governments should act to have country of origin labelling for fibres."